I have always loved him. Though that love has evolved, metamorphosed, transmuted over time (and sometimes it felt a little—maybe a lot—like hate), what hasn’t ever changed is that I love him. But I didn’t comprehend the depth of my love, the teeth and claws and desperate prayers of my love, until six hours ago: They say he’s missing… The Royal Zodiac—me and my inner circle—hasn’t been complete these past two years since the attack. Every time we get close to a potential candidate to recruit into our ranks, they disappear, the most likely scenario being that Medusa and her minions got to them first. And now she has Dalair. I won’t rest until I get him back. My name is Sophia Victoria St. James. I am Queen of the Pure Ones. This is my Awakening.

Find Your Way to Greater Closeness with God Jeff Deyo invites you into a conversation about worship in a book that was written for anyone seeking to experience the Lord in a deeper way. Does Gods presence seem distant? Do you have a friend who has grown numb to the things of God? Have you given up on hearing Gods voice in the way so many authors and preachers talk about? Are you ready to awaken your life to a vibrant, one-on-one relationship with the Father once and for all? This is your moment. Your hope is about to be restored as you consider these questions and more: Are we truly present in Gods presence? Do we encounter songs, artists, and atmospheres without encountering God Himself? What do we do when we lose the emotion that often surrounds worshiping God? Why are so many of us tempted to put ministry for God above intimacy with God? Are we unintentionally worshiping the image of a false god when we cherry-pick easy-to-swallow scriptures about Gods character? Can the good work of serving the poor and moving in the supernatural cause us to miss the one thing? Do we allow potential embarrassment to keep us from loving and worshiping God extravagantly? Shift your perspective on relationship with God from obligation to invitation and rediscover authentic worship that reaches from the secret place to the marketplace.

*** 2018 Reader's Favorite Finalist *** Enter the world of Pure Ones, a race of immortal, supernaturally powerful beings who protect humankind, where sexual intercourse with anyone other than one’s Eternal Mate leads to a slow, painful death within thirty days. The Healer of the race, Rain, is the only exception to this rule. To harness and accumulate enough energy to heal severe wounds, especially as the war between her people and the vampire hordes accelerates, she must take a Consort once every ten years and draw strength from his blood and body. But as the war wears on, few Pure-males who are strong enough to serve as her Consort remain. Valerius, Protector of the race, is the strongest candidate. Despite their instant attraction ten years ago when they first met, Valerius has staunchly avoided applying to be the Healer’s Consort. The brutality and violence he suffered as a Roman sex slave in his human life ate away at his soul, leaving a dark abyss of torment and self-doubt. Now, as Rain’s strength drains with every healing act, Valerius cannot escape the fact that he may be the only one who can save her, and in so doing, afford his people greater hope for the future as battles intensify. Will Rain and Valerius find their way to each other as the struggles between good and evil evolve? *** Trigger Warning * Sexual Abuse. ***

All my existence, I have loved one woman. But she was never meant to be mine. I loved her when she was the intended bride for another. I betrayed him too. I loved her after they married. I took what wasn’t mine. I paid my penance by dying in his stead. But it wasn’t enough to restore the Balance. When the Goddess gave me a chance to make things right, to serve as a soldier of the Pure Ones, I embraced that offer. Even though what I really wanted to do was stay dead and numb. Never to be reawakened in this world. Never to feel again. To yearn and desire and seethe with jealousy and despair at my own helplessness. The Goddess warned me at the moment of my death and rebirth not to want her again. For our paths would cross in the future, though I wouldn’t know the time and place. Nor would I recognize her physical incarnation. For she was never meant to be mine. Will never be mine. But the moment I realized who she was—the Pure Queen I’d been assigned to protect as the Paladin—the moment I recognized her soul, I Fell again. I wanted. I craved. I yearned. I seethed. I resisted. I pushed her away over and over again. Made her angry and confused. Made her hate me. But Goddess above! I cannot change how I feel. I cannot stop wanting her. Cannot stop loving her. All my existence, my body, heart and soul have belonged to one woman. Even though she can never be mine. I love her still. I love her forever. This is the beginning of the end of our story. Judge me if you dare.

We are who we are… For as long as it can remember, it has been known as the Creature. Neither he nor she, neither Pure nor Dark…a beautiful abomination to all races and Kinds. A faithful henchman of the evil Medusa, it has perpetrated dark deeds beyond redemption, even if its own hands have never directly taken a life. We are who we’re made… Once upon a time, the Creature was conceived in love, a True Love that endured across millennia of trials and tribulations. Its parents have never given up hope that they would one day recover their lost son. And, too, the Creature was not always as it is now. But circumstances shriveled its heart and suffocated its soul, forging a being who cares about nothing and no one— Until now.

Jade: She is a ruthless, cunning vampire queen, the most powerful amongst all the Hives in the world. Beautiful, predatory, and alluringly dangerous, she’s a huntress who revels in blood and sexual pleasure. Seth: He is calm, cool, and level-headedness personified, as the most effective negotiator and mediator amongst the Pure Ones. Known by the moniker of “Monk,” he thought he could resist any and all temptation. 3 years ago, they made a deal, one that gave the Pure Ones a critical advantage against a deadly foe. But the price he paid still haunts him to this day. 3 years ago, she played a delicious game, not realizing until it was almost too late, how he changed her entire world. Now, common enemies force their paths to cross again. Only this time, the stakes are higher, the risk is greater, and the love—should they choose to claim it—will be worth every sacrifice.

Their love is outlawed by both their Kinds… Tal-Telal, the legendary General who led the Pure Ones to freedom, paid the ultimate price for his people: breaking the heart of his one True Love. Her shattered heart continues to yearn… Ishtar Anshar, once royalty reigning over a vast, ancient empire, lost everything she held dear. Deceived by those she trusted the most, she blamed the one male who sacrificed all to protect her. No matter the distance and time, love is a renegade that cannot be ruled… Now Fate has reunited them in this modern time to combat a burgeoning threat. Can they put the darkness behind them and forge a brighter future together?

Who he was… The Creature was not always an “it,” a monster and tool for Medusa’s use. Once upon a time, he was a boy, and then a man. He had a name—Erebu. Twice, he sacrificed himself for love. Twice he died and was revived by his Mistress. In the process, he lost his soul and buried the painful memories where no one could find them, least of all him. Who he is… Now one of Medusa’s most brilliant henchmen, captured by the Pure Ones yet treated like a friend rather than a foe, the Creature is reminded of the soul he lost, the memories he’d forgotten, and the dream he used to hope for. But first, he must confront the past. Who he is meant to be… The Creature realizes that he matters, he has will, even if he is not completely free; that without darkness there is no light, and that darkness can be beautiful too. When his newfound friends—his family—are threatened, will the Creature find the strength to fight for love? Will he make the right choice and change the course of Destiny?

"What, if anything, is Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism? In 1224, the medieval Japanese scholar-monk Dohan (1179-1252) composed The Compendium on Esoteric Mindfulness of Buddha (Himitsu nenbutsu sho), which begins with another seemingly simple question: Why is it that practitioners of mantra and meditation rely on the recitation of the name of the Buddha Amitabha? To answer this question, Dohan explored diverse areas of study spanning the whole of the East Asian Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Although contemporary scholars often study Esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism as if they were mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, schools of Buddhism, in the present volume Aaron Proffitt examines Dohan's Compendium in the context of the eastward flow of Mahayana Buddhism from India to Japan and uncovers Mahayana Buddhists employing multiple, overlapping, so-called esoteric approaches along the path to awakening. Proffitt divides his study into two parts. In Part I he considers how early Buddhologists, working under colonialism, first constructed Mahayana Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism as discrete fields of inquiry. He then surveys the flow of Indian Buddhist spells, dharaòni, and mantra texts into China and Japan and the diverse range of Buddhist masters who employed these esoteric techniques to achieve rebirth in Sukhavati, the Pure Land of Bliss. In Part II, he considers the life of Dohan and analyzes the monk's comprehensive view of buddhanusmrti as a form of ritual technology that unified body and mind, Sukhavati as a this-worldly or other-worldly soteriological goal synonymous with nirvana itself, and the Buddha Amitabha as an object of devotion beyond this world of suffering. The work concludes with the first full translation of Dohan's Himitsu nenbutsu sho into a modern language"--

In this book, Charles B. Jones provides the first English language translation of one of the most important texts of modern Chinese Buddhism: monk-reformer Taixu's 'On the Establishment of the Pure Land in the Human Realm'. The essay, written in 1926 as part of Taixu's attempt to revive Chinese Buddhism with a Humanistic Buddhist approach, incorporates Western thought into a reconstruction of the idea of the 'Pure Land in the human realm'. In his commentary on the text, Jones argues that it has been widely misunderstood and mischaracterized. Jones demonstrates that, besides laying out the very modern idea of the Pure Land in the human realm as a slogan for Buddhist engagement with the problems of the modern world, the essay does not, as commonly assumed, discourage practices leading to rebirth in the Pure Land. He also shows that the 'human realm' can mean anywhere in Buddhist cosmology that humans reside, and that the essay's attempts to reconcile Buddhism with modern science is tentative and incomplete. Jones reveals that the essay promotes visions of both paradises and utopias, and that Taixu supports his ideas with many lengthy sutra quotations. The book concludes with an examination of how Taixu's followers developed the idea of the Pure Land in the human realm into a more coherent and modernized ideal.